


Cold Cocoa

by Fire_Traveller



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: A Bit of Fluff, Aziraphale Loves Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale's Bookshop (Good Omens), Crowley Loves Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley might be somewhat traumatised by the bookshop fire, Crowley needs a hug, Ineffable Idiots (Good Omens), M/M, Make the Yuletide Gay, Other, Our Side Yule prompts 2020, Snake Crowley (Good Omens), clingy snake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:55:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27960374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fire_Traveller/pseuds/Fire_Traveller
Summary: Some time after 'Armageddidn't' Aziraphale tries to read an drink some hot cocoa, but a certain serpent has other plans. Or rather, if Crowley was being honest, he'd ask for a hug, but as it is, he uses his serpentine form as an excuse for...no, certainly not cuddles! Demons don't cuddle...do they?Written for the 'Thy Cocoa Doth Grow Cold' prompt.
Relationships: Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 68
Collections: Make the Yuletide Gay 2020





	Cold Cocoa

A little while had passed since the world hadn’t ended. Winter had come to London. It was rather cold outside and already dark – which meant, that the little, cluttered bookshop in Soho was illuminated in warm light that flooded out into the street through the windows. Inside, Aziraphale had settled down with a mug of hot cocoa and a book. There was really nothing better during the cold season than some nice, sweet, chocolaty, steaming hot cocoa, preferably with marshmallows (or at least cream) and maybe with a smidge of rum. And even better if it was accompanied by a good novel to read while drinking.

The angel tried to turn the page and tried to reach out for the mug – ‘tried’ being the important bit here, because he failed to do either. As a result, he sighed with a tiny bit of annoyance. “Crowley, really. It’s all well and fine if you want to go around playing scarf all day, but…really, you are quite a large snake, you know? Rather long and heavy. And…a tad in the way if you don’t mind me saying so. I can hardly move, you know…”

The snake that was draped around his neck, arms and torso reacted with a hiss that was in all probability the equivalent to a human eye-roll and a groan, but he did begin to move his coils a bit. This way, Aziraphale managed to free his left arm, turn the page and somewhat awkwardly reach for the mug – it was on the table to his right and thus would have been way easier to reach with his other arm, but alas, that arm was still in the firm grip of a rather clingy serpent.

His earlier reproach, however, didn’t go unpunished: Crowley raised his head out from somewhere within his coils, until he was on eye level with the angel, then he flicked out his tongue and tickled the angel’s ear. Aziraphale had his attention elsewhere – on the hot cocoa, in fact – and let out a startled giggle. It required a little miracle to stop himself from accidentally spilling hot cocoa all over himself. He put the mug back down, frowning. “Crowley!”, he finally admonished and he was fairly certain that the demon would have laughed, had he been in his human shape.

Aziraphale sighed. “Crowley, my dear…Is…is something the matter? You know you can…” But this time, the serpent interrupted him: “Jussssst want to make life easssier for you…Keep you ssssafe from annoying cusssstomerssss…No one will come in here with the Sssserpent of Eden around…” The angel chuckled softly. “Crowley…The sign at the door is flipped to ‘closed’ and the door is locked. Nobody will come in to bother us anyway, so…what’s the matter? Look…If…if you want to cuddle, that’s perfectly fine – just say so…”

The snake hissed in a peculiar mixture of embarrassment and indignation. “’m a demon, I don’t need cuddlessss…’m jusssst cold…It’sss cold outssside, ssso I need sssomething to warm mysssself. And you’re the warmessst thing around here, Angel…” Aziraphale rolled his eyes and huffed. “Fine, be that way”, he grumbled and reached out for the mug of cocoa once again, turning his gaze back to the pages of the book.

Crowley rested his head on the angel’s shoulder. Speaking wasn’t that easy in snake shape, but this shape gave him a valid excuse to do this instead. To hold onto the angel as tightly as possible. And since that one moment on the day of ‘Armageddidn’t’, the moment when he’d run into a burning inferno that had once been a bookshop and couldn’t find Aziraphale anywhere, he found that he needed this, at least occasionally. To reassure himself that the angel was really still there.

Without realising it, the snake had wrapped his coils just a bit more tightly around the angel. Aziraphale had wanted to finally take a sip of his hot cocoa, but found that he was once again incapable of moving and would in all probability not be able to swallow anything. It was a good thing that, as an angel, he didn’t actually need to breathe. Still, being unable to do so wasn’t all that comfortable. “Crowley! What are you doing? I’m not a…a rabbit or whatever it is you’re supposed to be eating as a serpent. Would you please stop squeezing me like this? There are certainly better ways to take my breath away. A priceless manuscript in pristine condition, for instance…”

At once, the grip of the coils around him slackened. “Ssssssorry…”, the serpent hissed sheepishly. Aziraphale realised slowly what was going on and he put his book aside and ran a gentle finger over the smooth, slightly shimmering scales. “Crowley…I’m not going anywhere, you know? It’s fine. We’ve won. Our own side, just as you said. And…if you don’t mind…I know, you’re a demon and you don’t cuddle and all that, but…well…you know angels usually don’t do that, either, but still. You…you really don’t need an excuse to…Oh, bugger! I…If…if you don’t mind…I’d very much like to give you a hug now.”

The serpent hissed and for a moment, nothing happened. Crowley needed a moment to process this, after all. Had he been in his human shape, he’d probably have sputtered out a string of unintelligible consonants, but right now, sibilants where the ones most readily available. Then, Aziraphale felt something shift – or rather, he felt the coils of the snake around him shift. With a rather undignified ‘thud’, Crowley landed sprawled on the floor in a heap of limbs, staring wide-eyed up at Aziraphale. “Hng…ngk…o-okay…”, he finally managed.

Aziraphale stood up and held out his hand to help his friend up from the floor. Crowley took the offered hand without protest, but then, he just stood there in front of the angel, awkward, flustered and struggling unsuccessfully to say something, anything. He gave up, shut his mouth and waited. Aziraphale was a bit hesitant as well – normally, they didn’t do this, after all. But…after the Almost-Apocalypse, what was ‘normal’, anyway? So, he smiled, simply opened his arms and pulled the demon into a tight hug.

After a moment, he felt Crowley’s arms snake around him in return and he noticed that the demon sighed in relief. For a while, they just stood there like this, until the angel heard a muttered and half-choked “thank you”. He smiled softly, rubbing slow circles on his friend’s back. “Not for this, my dear…It’s fine”. Aziraphale didn’t let go – he didn’t want to. And as it seemed, neither did Crowley. The book lay forgotten on the table…and the hot cocoa was growing cold. But a warmth far more valuable than that was beginning to fill the bookshop and the two supernatural beings within it.

**Author's Note:**

> Another little oneshot, this time more in time, yay! Not that christmassy, but it's wintery at least. Well, honestly, I cannot imagine that the experience of the bookshop on fire and Aziraphale gone will not at least have some effects on Crowley...Anyway, hope you enjoy!


End file.
